The FCC estimates 19.5 percent of cellsites are out in Puerto Rico from recent earthquakes, mostly due to power outages, said the disaster information reporting system Thursday report. That’s down from 31.7 percent the previous day (see 2001080006). A Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board spokesperson estimated outages at 26 percent Thursday, the same as the day before. Cable and wireline companies reported nearly 173,400 subscribers out of service, down from about 258,600. Liberty Cablevision is assessing its network, including fiber rings, cables and posts, and so far hasn’t found major damage, CEO Naji Khoury said in a statement. Infrastructure is “operating at full capacity,” but power outages in 35 municipalities are disrupting service, it said: About 51 percent of its customers have access to their internet service.

T-Mobile and states opposing the carrier’s Sprint buy re-emphasized their positions, before closing argument Wednesday at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Arguing (in Pacer) plaintiffs don’t have to prove anticompetitive intentions, states highlighted companies’ internal documents cited at trial as showing such motives, including a 2011 Deutsche Telekom slide deck saying one transaction benefit is a "rule of three" that would reduce price competition (see 1912100029). States questioned Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen’s credibility: "There is considerable reason for this Court to doubt whether DISH will build the promised network; and, even if it does, DISH’s most optimistic projections still fall well short of being timely, likely, or sufficient to replace the lost competition that Sprint has long provided.” States rejected (in Pacer) DOJ and the FCC urging the court defer to federal agencies’ conditional OKs (see 1912200043). "States are independent enforcers of the antitrust laws, and it is the role of the Court -- not any federal agency -- to decide the lawfulness of the merger," they said. “A prosecutorial decision by” DOJ “not to challenge a transaction is not a determination that the proposed merger is lawful under the Clayton Act,” and the same goes for a commission OK, the plaintiffs said. T-Mobile said (in Pacer) DOJ and the FCC agree the deal will mean lower prices, better wireless service and increased competition: “Plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden to prove that the world with this merger is likely to be substantially less competitive than the world without it." If not allowed, T-Mobile and Sprint will suffer and Dish won’t enter the market, they said. It's false to say the biggest U.S. carriers welcome the takeover, defendants said. “AT&T has been working with third parties to thwart the merger,” said T-Mobile, citing a July 17, 2018, email from AT&T Executive Vice President-Regulatory and State External Affairs Joan Marsh to Communications Workers of America Telecom Policy Director Debbie Goldman. Marsh wrote that she “wanted you to be aware of potential [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)] issues that some are raising.” The attachment raises possible national security concerns, including T-Mobile and Sprint using Chinese equipment, Softbank’s relationships with Chinese companies, and a foreign-owned company potentially holding more spectrum than U.S. carriers. "As far as I know, AT&T has not taken a position on the merger," a CWA spokesperson emailed: The union opposes the deal "because it would hurt working people." AT&T didn’t comment. A settlement between states and the carriers is deemed unlikely (see 1912300033).

The Tunney Act review of T-Mobile's buying Sprint won't pause while states separately challenge the deal at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Timothy Kelly said in a minute order Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Washington (case 1:19-cv-02232). Kelly allowed an October amici brief (in Pacer) by New York, the District of Columbia and other states challenging the deal at the SDNY, but said the states may not seek a stay of the case in Washington. States asked the D.C. court not to schedule any hearings or determination under the Tunney Act until the SDNY litigation finished. “To the extent [states’] brief can be characterized as a motion for a stay or to otherwise delay these proceedings, the Court will deny it,” Kelly said. Parties in the Tunney Act case should be on a phone status conference Friday at 2 p.m., he said. At the lower Manhattan court, post-trial findings of fact and conclusions of law were due Wednesday.

Industry and others in Puerto Rico are evaluating the impact from earthquakes. "Our network is operating on back-up generators and batteries, and we are engaged with the power company as they work to restore service," an AT&T spokesperson emailed. "Our local teams are supporting public safety on FirstNet, as well as our customers, and are prepared to deploy additional recovery equipment if needed.” Liberty Puerto Rico tweeted Tuesday its stores remain closed until further notice for the safety of employees and customers. WorldNet Telecommunications is headquartered on the territory's north side and didn't experience the same damage as on the south side, said Marketing Director Rolando Texidor. He said company operations didn't receive structural damage, and it has power backup for equipment to address an island-wide blackout. Most of WorldNet's business customers have generators, Texidor said. WorldNet's team was accounted for. Texidor said many companies around the island were working with skeleton crews. The FCC is monitoring the situation, a spokesperson said. Telecom providers seek government aid through an FCC USF program to help rebuild and strengthen their networks following 2017 hurricanes (see 1808080011). Commissioners voted in September to move forward with the funding (see 1909260032).

Stakeholders favor the FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy encouraging broadband deployment. Smith Bagley Inc. sought to enhance ONAP's role to encourage engagement between eligible telecom carriers and tribal governments, among comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. SBI said some tribal governments "have limited economic resources and lack the internal expertise in telecommunications necessary to conduct an assessment and provide feedback in a Tribal engagement process." MuralNet said ONAP must have a budget large enough "to hire sufficient staff to perform Tribal consultation activities, organize workshops, and attend meetings with Tribal leaders in their communities across Indian Country and at conferences." MuralNet supported a recommendation the tribal engagement requirement include Alaska native villages and Alaska tribal health organizations. ETCs need flexibility to meet the agency's tribal engagement obligations, said the Alaska Telecom Association. Clarify what constitutes good documentation and record-keeping on tribal engagement, urged the Montana Telecommunications Association. It wants to avoid appeals or penalties when "a provider believes it has complied with the guidance only to find out after the fact that the provider's documentation does not meet the [Universal Service Administrative Co.'s] interpretation of the guidelines." The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority said lack of tribal government comments last month (see 1912060008) shows engagement isn't uniformly effective. OSTUA wants changes including that all carriers serving tribal lands, not just ETCs, engage with tribes. The FCC said Commissioner Brendan Carr plans to visit with Mescalero Apache Telecom and Mescalero Apache Reservation leaders in New Mexico this week.

The FCC Wireless Bureau and the Office of Native Affairs and Policy are "ready to provide assistance" to potential applicants in the 2.5 GHz rural tribal priority window as they apply for unassigned frequencies on eligible rural tribal lands, said a public notice Monday on docket 18-120. The window is Feb. 4-Aug. 3 (see 1910180068). The staff will provide individualized guidance via RuralTribalWindow@fcc.gov or by phone. Information is at www.fcc.gov/RuralTribalWindow. The FCC has a mapping tool at www.fcc.gov/25-ghz-rural-tribal-maps. Applications and associated shapefiles will be placed on PN for review and comment after the filing window.

America’s Communications Association and NTCA urged the FCC to reject a request to lower the proposed 100/20 Mbps tier in its upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to 100/10. "The commission will not achieve the objective of reasonable comparability" under USF standards "by cutting in half the upload speed for one of the highest performance tiers from the previous auction to a level that is less than 25 percent of the average upload speed today," said the groups in a letter Monday for docket 19-126. USTelecom filed several ex parte letters on the RDOF docket, including one Friday. Fiber-to-the-home "should be supported but the commission must strike the right balance to cover more rural American locations with speeds well in excess of the baseline," it said: Adding a 50/5 Mbps tier "would allow providers to serve broad geographic areas with speeds twice the baseline" and adjusting the upload requirement to 100/10 "would cut the cost of service by half, freeing up more funding for more broadband across rural America."

With Citigroup holding a financial conference in Las Vegas Tuesday and Wednesday during CES, analyst Michael Rollins said he expects a mostly positive message from the companies participating. “Wireless should have another solid quarter of postpaid net add volumes and revenue growth within the industry, while longer-term competitive risks remain,” Rollins told investors Friday: “We expect positive commentary from Verizon as well as T-Mobile on postpaid volumes, while AT&T is likely to focus on the prospects to improve performance in 2020 after mixed metrics in 2019.” Residential broadband “seems to be trending positively” this quarter, he said. “The outlook for the wireless industry structure remains uncertain with the ongoing Court case brought by the State [attorneys general] to block the proposed T-Mobile and Sprint merger,” Rollins said. “We expect a lot of ‘what if’ questions to be asked of the management teams,” he said.

The Wireless ISP Association and Wireless Communications Association said the FCC should reject a Nov. 25 petition by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and others seeking changes to rules for the 2.5 GHz band. Commissioners approved revised rules for the educational broadband service band in July, with Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissenting (see 1907100054). The petition “fails to identify any material error, omission, or reason warranting reconsideration,” WISPA said in docket 18-120, posted Friday: “Petitioners’ efforts to maintain vestiges of the existing rules find little or no support in the record” and the use of the EBS never developed as expected. “The fundamental question at issue in the 2.5 GHz" order "is whether it makes sense in 2020 to maintain a restrictive licensing regime in the 2.5 GHz band that has resulted in 95 percent of the spectrum being leased from educators to commercial entities,” WCA said: “Today, commercial operators support nearly all of the deployments.”

FCC national security supply chain rules barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from networks funded by the USF take effect Friday, with Federal Register publication. Commissioners approved the order 5-0 at their November meeting (see 1911220033). Comments on the initial designations of Huawei and ZTE as covered companies are due Feb. 3 in docket 19-352. A Further NPRM seeks comment on additional actions. “The Commission proposes to require [eligible telecommunications carriers] receiving USF support to remove and replace covered equipment and services from their network operations,” the FNPRM says: “To mitigate the impact on affected entities, and in particular small, rural entities, the Commission proposes to establish a reimbursement program to offset reasonable transition costs. The Commission proposes to make the requirement to remove covered equipment and services by ETCs contingent on the availability of a funded reimbursement program.” Comments are due Feb. 3, replies March 3. Huawei and ZTE didn't comment Thursday.